Got questions we haven’t answered here? Contact us!
- What kind of stories are you looking for?
- We’re looking for true stories from Michigan told by the people who experienced them. An ideal story is 10-15 minutes long, but we’re open to stories of any length. They can be funny, sad, heart-warming, whatever! It is important that you experienced the bulk of the story yourself, although we are open to stories told second-hand if the person who experienced the story first-hand has passed away or the story is of serious historical significance in Michigan.
- How can I submit a story for consideration?
- The fastest way to submit a story is to email us a rough audio recording of yourself telling the story at story@lakeeffectstories.com. Just a quick and dirty recording on a smartphone is fine. If that’s not possible for you, you can message us and we’ll work with you on an alternative way to submit your story. It’s a lot of work to completely write out your story and they are not particularly useful to us, so we don’t recommend submitting written versions of stories.
- What happens if I get selected for a live event?
- We meet with every storyteller to go over their story and provide tips for improving it, if necessary. We will also explain the details of how the show works from the storyteller perspective. Storytellers are not allowed to read their story or use notes because we feel this undermines the authenticity of sharing a story on stage.
- Are storytellers paid to tell their stories?
- Storytellers receive a thank-you bag of goodies from the show and free tickets to future live events, but they are not paid. This is typical practice in documentary work because we don’t want subjects to make up material just to get paid. That could potentially undermine the credibility of the stories with our audience.
- Where can I see the show?
- We’re aiming to host our first live event in the fall of 2024. Join our mailing list to stay up to date on live events and follow us on Facebook.